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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26736493">The Thin Blue Lie</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadassBurgess/pseuds/BadassBurgess'>BadassBurgess</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Chicago PD (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Police, Romance, Sex, Upstead, surprise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:08:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,099</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26736493</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadassBurgess/pseuds/BadassBurgess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hailey Upton is a police officer with a year of experience. Transferred to Chicago's 21st district, she needs to be assigned a new partner. (Upstead. Slight AU.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jay Halstead &amp; Hailey Upton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hailey Upton was twelve hours away from starting her new assignment at Chicago's 21st district. Only a matter of weeks after completing her rookie year with the police department, it was hardly an ideal time to be reassigned, but rioters burning down the 16th district police station had forced the issue.</p><p>The 16th's least experienced officers had been reassigned so as to ensure that their development and training were not stunted. Upton and one other officer had been sent to the 21st. Luckily, the other officer happened to be her friend and housemate, officer Sylvie Brett. Unlike Upton, Brett was still in her rookie year, having completed about six months of it so far.</p><p>To try and put their nerves about the impending first shift at bay, Upton and Brett had decided to go out for a few drinks, opting to head to what was now going to be 'their' part of Chicago.</p><p>"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Upton asked her friend as they walked into a bar called Molly's. The place was busy, without being crowded.</p><p>"Sitting at home biting our nails certainly isn't," Brett said, proceeding without delay to the bar. "We've just got to make sure we don't get too drunk. Showing up day one hung over and stinking of booze wouldn't be a good luck."</p><p>"So, drunk enough not to feel nervous, but not drunk enough to get hungover. How hard can that be?"</p><p>"Let's find out," Brett said.</p><p>A bartender approached them and Brett bought two beers. Drinks in hand, they went over to an empty table across from the bar and sat down.</p><p>"This place isn't too bad," Upton said, looking around.</p><p>"Not much atmosphere though, no music."</p><p>"Sylvie, I'm twenty-eight but you somehow make me feel old. I'd rather be in a bar like this than in a club where you can't hear yourself think."</p><p>"You're twenty-eight, but you live like you're forty, that's why."</p><p>"That is brutal," Upton said, and they both laughed.</p><p>After a few minutes of enjoyable conversation and banter, Upton noticed two men making a beeline for their table. They had barely sat down, and they were about to be hit on already, she realised. It was a common thing when she went out with Brett, who seemed to attract guys like nectar attracting bees. At least they were handsome guys, she supposed. Both in their early thirties, one had dark brown hair, the other's was slightly lighter, and he had a beard.</p><p>"Hi. Haven't seen you in here before," beard said.</p><p>"That's because we haven't been here before," Upton said. If he wanted a way in, he was going to have to work harder than that if she had any say in it.</p><p>"Then it seems only right that we buy you a drink," the other guy said.</p><p>"Sounds good to me," Brett said. She proceeded to move over to give one of the men room to sit next to her, taking a big drink from her beer bottle.</p><p>With her friend having made the decision for them, Upton moved over too. They officially had company, already.</p><p>"I'll get them in," beard said, heading for the bar.</p><p>"I'm Jay, and that's Adam," the other guy said. He sat down next to Brett, directing his interest to Upton, which she couldn't help finding flattering. It didn't usually go like that.</p><p>"Hailey," she said, offering him a smile.</p><p>"I'm Sylvie."</p><p>"What brings you guys to town?"</p><p>"Oh, we live in Chicago," Upton said. "We're just new to this bar. It's not far from where we work. We're, uh, nurses. We work at Chicago Med."</p><p>She saw Brett drinking from her bottle to stop herself smiling at the lie. Experience had taught Upton that announcing the fact that she was a cop wasn't always the best way to start a night out. The police currently were not popular with a lot of people, as evidenced by the 16th district station being torched.</p><p>"Nurses, huh? Very nice."</p><p>"Yeah, you wouldn't believe the things we see every day. It would make your eyes water," Brett said.</p><p>Upton prepared herself for a cringe-worthy moment if he said anything about them making his eyes water, but the conversation was interrupted by Adam returning to the table with four beers. He dumped them on the table and sat down next to her.</p><p>"So you're from Chicago?" Jay asked.</p><p>"I am. Sylvie is from Indiana."</p><p>"I grew up on a farm," Brett announced.</p><p>"Really? Tell me about it," Adam said, as if farming was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.</p><p>And here we go, Upton thought, sighing inwardly. Do not end up going to back to one of these guys' places. That's the last thing you need, she told herself.</p>
<hr/><p>So much for not ending up in a stranger's bed, Upton thought as she slowly woke up. There wasn't much of a hangover to make her regret the previous night's drinking, but waking up in the bed of Jason? Jay? John? was bad enough. The sex had been good, though, so far as she recalled.</p><p>Then things got worse when she leant out of the bed and picked her phone up off the floor, seeing the time on her lock screen. It looked likely that by the time she went home, changed into her uniform, and got to the station, she would be late for her first shift at the 21st. It was a disaster. A first impression like that would make her a real target for whoever her new sergeant was.</p><p>A toilet flushed. The man she had spent the night with, Jay was her best recollection, was coming back to the bedroom.</p><p>Upton quickly jumped out of bed and was halfway through rushing into her clothes by the time the man she had slept with walked into the room.</p><p>"Taking off already?" he asked.</p><p>Barely looking at him, Upton finished dressing while she answered the question. "Yeah. Listen, I don't do this kind of thing, normally, I mean. And I'm going to be late for my shift, so I really do have to go."</p><p>He took it his stride. "Fair enough. Can I get your number? Or are you making a clean getaway?"</p><p>"Sorry," she said, genuinely feeling a bit guilty about it. Drunken one night stands truly were not something she did often. But she certainly wasn't interested in taking it any further.</p><p>"Fair enough. I can give you a ride somewhere if you want?"</p><p>The kind offer made Upton look him in the eye for the first time. He really was hot, and didn't look the least bit hungover. But her decision to bounce had been made, and she had to be quick about it, too.</p><p>"Thanks, but I've already got an Uber on the way," she lied. "Last night was fun." Fully dressed, she grabbed her purse and her phone and headed for the door.</p><p>"Yeah, it was," was all he said as she walked out.</p>
<hr/><p>"I was literally just about to leave. I've called you five times," Brett said with a fair amount of annoyance when Upton blew into their apartment like a whirlwind.</p><p>"My phone must be on silent. Anyway, I'm here now. Let me get my uniform on, and we still might get there on time."</p><p>Uniform on and looking immaculate, and hair and makeup done, Brett followed Upton through to her bedroom.</p><p>"Your night had a better ending than mine, then? Especially since you were the one talking about having a quiet night and not getting drunk."</p><p>"I sure didn't plan on sleeping with the guy," Upton said as she hurriedly undressed herself. "But so far as I remember, the sex was hot. I felt bad bailing on the him this morning."</p><p>"Did you give him your number?" Brett asked conspiratorially.</p><p>Upton looked at her friend as though she had just flown in from Mars. "No! Of course I didn't!" They both laughed.</p><p>"Well, I was a good girl, unlike you. Adam dropped me off here like a perfect gentleman. Didn't even try and kiss me, since he let me take the lead. I gave him my number."</p><p>"Yeah, yeah, you're the saint, I'm the sinner. Believe that and you'll believe anything."</p><p>"Shut up and get ready faster. You're going to have me fail my rookie year at this rate," Brett said anxiously.</p><p>"Alright, I'm nearly done!"</p><p>A few minutes later, with no makeup on and her hair up in a no effort ponytail, Upton led the way out of the apartment. She was going to have to drive quickly, but they still just about had a chance of getting to the 21st on time.</p>
<hr/><p>"God knows how, but we're on time," Upton said as she and Brett jogged from the parking lot to the front entrance of the 21st district police station.</p><p>Entering the building for the first time, they were faced with the station's front desk right before them. Behind it was a female sergeant with grey hair and a look on her face like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle.</p><p>"Uh, morning. I'm Hailey Upton, this is Sylvie Brett. It's our first shift here today. Could you direct us to the locker room, please?"</p><p>The sergeant made a point of looking at her watch before pointing off to her right.</p><p>"I wouldn't want to get on her wrong side," Brett muttered as they hurried away.</p><p>"Looks like it's easy to get on it, too."</p><p>A short distance along the hallway they entered, they found the male and female locker rooms. Officers were gradually coming out of them, on their way to the morning briefing. Upton and Brett went into the women's locker room, and Upton spoke to the first person they saw, a slightly overweight officer in her forties.</p><p>"Hi. I'm Hailey Upton, this is Sylvie Brett. We've been transferred from the 16th."</p><p>The officer didn't seem particularly interested in them or their story. She closed her locker and walked past them to the door. "Take lockers without names on them. Briefing room is down the hall on your right. You'll want to hurry. Sergeant Voight doesn't like to be kept waiting."</p><p>"Right," Brett said.</p><p>It only took them a moment to find two empty lockers next to each other. They didn't have the time or the means to label them, so they merely tossed a couple of things inside and locked them. And with that, they were ready to go to the briefing room, in time.</p><p>"How we've managed that, I'll never understand," Upton said as they left the locker room.</p><p>"Now let's see what we're in for," Brett said, looking ahead to the briefing. As an official rookie, she was likely to be a target for whatever the day's worst duty was. They would also find out who they would be partnered with, in Brett's case a training officer.</p><p>Walking into the briefing room, Upton saw steel chairs and cheap wooden tables arranged either side of a central aisle. Most of the chairs were filled. She didn't need to be told that their table was in the front row. That was the custom when new people joined a station.</p><p>They had just sat down on the left side of the aisle when the sergeant walked in. The race against time had been won by fifteen seconds at most.</p><p>"Right, let's got on with it," the sergeant said in a loud, very gravelly voice, bringing an immediate end to what little chatter there had been in the room. He stood by a whiteboard, which was currently blank. He looked right at them before continuing.</p><p>"Today, we have two officers joining us from the 16th, Hailey Upton and Sylvie Brett. I'm Sergeant Hank Voight. Let's hope you do a better job here than you did over there."</p><p>Yeah, because it's our fault some higher-up ordered the place to be abandoned to the rioters, Upton thought sarcastically behind an impassive face.</p><p>"Brett, I understand you're six months into your rookie program?"</p><p>"Yes, sir."</p><p>"Well, I've put you with one of our best training officers, officer Burgess." Voight pointed towards the back of the room, directly behind Upton and Brett.</p><p>They both turned around to look, and Upton saw a pleasant-looking female officer with brown hair who seemed to be in her late thirties raise her hand.</p><p>"Upton, you're going to be partnered with officer Halstead," Voight said next. This time he pointed to the back right of the room.</p><p>Upton had to lift herself out of her seat slightly as she turned around so that she could see over the other officers. When she locked eyes with the man who has his hand up, she saw the same shock on his face that she felt.</p><p>Her partner was the man she had slept with the night before.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hailey Upton had never felt so awkward or mortified in her life. The man she had slept with the night before was not only a police officer at the 21st, which would have been more than bad enough, he was also her new partner. You couldn't make it up, she thought.</p><p>None of this was supposed to have happened. She was supposed to have gone out for a few drinks with Sylvie and nothing more. A cheap one night stand hadn't been a part of the plan. But even though the one night stand had happened, it still shouldn't have been a problem. After all, she had lied about being a nurse at Chicago Med, and hadn't left Jay her phone number. She should have been away and in the clear. But the exact opposite was now the case.</p><p>The rest of the briefing passed Upton by while she sat there in a daze, trying to figure out what the hell she was going to say to Jay Hickstead or whatever his stupid name was. Walking out and never coming back felt like the ideal thing, but she couldn't. Doing so would mean giving up her career in the police, and no amount of embarrassment was worth paying that price. Somehow, she was going to have to get on with it.</p><p>"What's wrong? You've gone pale. Are you going to be sick?" Brett asked her once Voight had dismissed everyone to end the briefing. She clearly thought a hangover was the problem.</p><p>"My partner is Jay. The guy I slept with last night," Upton muttered as they got up from their seats at the front of the briefing room.</p><p>Brett's eyes widened and stared at her in shock. "Oh pickles!"</p><p>Upton scrunched her face up in confusion at the weird response, although weird responses weren't rare from Sylvie. "Oh pickles?"</p><p>"I'm not swearing in the briefing room. I'd better go introduce myself to Burgess. Have fun," Brett teased as she walked away.</p><p>Have fun, Upton thought with annoyance. She really wasn't in the mood for teasing. In fact she wasn't in the mood for anything apart from totally regretting the last twenty-four hours of her life.</p><p>Her new partner was waiting for her just outside of the room, she saw. The walk towards the open door seemed like one of the longest of her life.</p><p>"Nurses, huh?" was his opener when she reluctantly approached him, and they started walking along the hallway towards the station's front desk.</p><p>"Yeah, I lied about that."</p><p>"Yes, I can see that. It's made today a lot more awkward than it should have been."</p><p>In that moment, Upton's mind did a one-eighty. To hell with it, she decided, why should she act like she had done something wrong? It had taken two to tango, and it was him who had taken her back to his place. So what if he had thought she and Sylvie were nurses? She had nothing to be sorry for.</p><p>"Well, I'm not going to apologise for it. It was a one night stand. These things happen, albeit not very often for me. Obviously I wouldn't have let it happen between us if I knew you were a cop from the 21st. You didn't mention anything about what you did for a living."</p><p>They walked into the station's entrance area, and the conversation was put on hold for the moment. Because they had been assigned to patrol duty, they had to join the line to get a car assignment from the mean-looking desk sergeant. Upton could tell that Jay whatever his name was didn't want people overhearing talk about a one night stand any more than she did, so at least there was that.</p><p>When their turn came to approach the desk sergeant, it didn't escape Upton's attention that her new partner left her to go forward by herself. The sergeant still had the same bulldog licking piss off a nettle look on her face.</p><p>"Take 22 Bravo," the sergeant said, slamming a car key into Upton's hand.</p><p>"Thank you. You're most kind," Upton said in an over the top cheerful tone.</p><p>Key in hand, she turned and followed her partner out of the station, learning that they needed to exit the building via the front entrance to get to wherever the squad cars were parked.</p><p>"This way," he said, heading to the left.</p><p>"I don't think she likes me much," Upton commented.</p><p>"Sergeant Platt doesn't like anyone who's new. She'll warm up to you in time, maybe." After a moment of pause, he stopped walking and looked at her. "Look, we've gotten off to a seriously awkward start. But we're going to have to work together and have each other's backs. What do you say we try and start over?"</p><p>On the face of it, it was a good idea. But how could they ever work around the fact that their first encounter had been a one night stand? It didn't seem possible. They had seen each other naked. They'd had sex. Hot sex. But now wasn't the time to think back to the sex. Upton knew that she had to accept his offer, whether she thought it would work out or not.</p><p>"Yeah, let's start over," she said. "I'm Hailey Upton. I've been with the police for fourteen months."</p><p>"Jay Halstead," he said with a bit of a smile. "I have five years in, all at the 21st. Voight said you were at the 16th?"</p><p>"When it existed," Upton said as they continued walking.</p><p>"Yeah. What a stupid decision to abandon a station to rioters. I'd be so pissed if that had been the 21st."</p><p>Upton shrugged. "The way I looked at it was that it was a decision made higher up. It's not my problem if it's stupid. All that mattered to me was whether me or Sylvie lost our jobs. Since we haven't, it is what it is."</p><p>"That seems like a rather odd attitude to me," Halstead said as they walked into a parking garage containing a large number of squad cars.</p><p>"Why? Nothing I could have done would have had any effect on the decision, or the outcome. What would be the point of worrying about it? How do we find 22 Bravo?"</p><p>Halstead showed her how the cars were parked and how to locate the one that had been allocated to them. For today's shift, they had been assigned to patrol. The day would involve cruising the streets with an eye out for any law breaking they might encounter, and responding to 911 calls.</p><p>"I'll drive," Halstead said.</p><p>"Not while I've got the keys you won't," Upton shot back, remembering how he had left her to up to Sergeant Platt.</p><p>"That's how it is?" he asked, clearly not impressed.</p><p>Upton wasn't going to be pushed around, and she wanted him to know that right from the start. "Yeah, that's how it is."</p><p>Decision made, they got into the car. Upton fired up the engine and drove slowly out of the garage.</p><p>"So, who was the guy you were with last night?" she asked. "Adam, wasn't it?"</p><p>"That's right, Adam Ruzek. He's also with the 21st. In fact he's on our shift. You should have seen the grin he gave me when he walked out of the briefing room."</p><p>"Well that's just great," Upton groaned, imagining word already spreading through the 21st about her and Halstead spending the night together.</p><p>Halstead ignored what she had said. "Sylvie's a rookie, then. You met her on the job?"</p><p>Upton concentrated on negotiating a busy intersection before answering. "That's right. I met her on her first day on the job, and we've been friends ever since. We moved in together as housemates not long afterwards. The company and the help with paying bills are both much-needed."</p><p>"I hear that. Adam and I have been talking about him moving into my place for the same reasons."</p><p>"You guys are good friends, then?"</p><p>"Yeah. We've been on the same shifts pretty much ever since he transferred to the 21st."</p><p>As they cruised the streets, they each talked about how they had gotten into policing. Their stories were pretty similar, having both wanted to do the job since they were kids, in Jay's case because his father had been a cop.</p><p>The conversation helped to somewhat break the ice between them after the shock they had both received during the briefing.</p><p>Then their first call of the day came through. A dispatcher requested them to attended a traffic collision involving multiple vehicles.</p><p>"Here it goes. Time to spend half the shift blocking off a road," Halstead grumbled before acknowledging that they were responding to the call.</p><p>Upton felt the same way her partner did. Car accidents were work for paramedics and sometimes the fire department. All police had to do was divert traffic away from the scene and keep nosey people back. Still, an officer rarely got to chose their tasks. She fired up the squad car's sirens and lights, and accelerated through the traffic.</p><p>A couple of minutes later, Upton saw that they were going to be the first ones on the scene as she approached the intersection where the accident had happened. It looked like a truck had rear ended another truck, which had been stopped at a red light.</p><p>"That might need towing," Halstead said.</p><p>"Yeah. And until then it's going to require traffic management through the intersection."</p><p>Upton swung the car across the quiet road behind the truck that had crashed into the stationary one, blocking that side of the street. The first job was going to clearing the small crowd of bystanders out of the road.</p><p>Bailing out of the car, she jogged around the front of it to join Halstead, and the two of them approached the bystanders.</p><p>"Alright, I want everyone to move off the street, onto that sidewalk," Halstead ordered, pointing away from the damaged trucks.</p><p>No one seemed in my hurry to comply, so Upton joined in. "Come on, let's go. Everyone off the street. There's nothing to see here, just a couple of damaged trucks."</p><p>"Oh yeah? What about the van?" a young man called back.</p><p>"What van?"</p><p>The man pointed in the direction of the two trucks. She couldn't see a van, at least until she walked closer and got a better angle to look at the situation. There was indeed a white van there, having been slammed from behind by the offending truck and pancaked against the back of other one. The remains of the van were only about a foot long, showing how hard the truck must have hit it.</p><p>"Now that's worth an 'oh pickles'," she said to herself before getting on the radio to call for ambulance and fire department assistance.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>'Driver was extracted by paramedics with only minor injuries,' Upton wrote on her report form for the traffic incident that had ended up occupying most of her first shift at the 21st.</p><p>"How that guy wasn't killed I'll never know," she said.</p><p>"What?" Halstead said vaguely. His interest was more focused on whatever he was typing on his phone than on what she was saying. His half completed report sat on the table in front of him.</p><p>"I said I can't believe a purple pig flew out of the back of that van."</p><p>"Yeah," he said, still typing away.</p><p>"You do know you're being ignorant, right?" she demanded.</p><p>Finally, he looked up at her. "Sorry, I was texting Adam. His shift is going to be a long one by the sound of it, so we're not going out anymore. What were you saying?"</p><p>"I was saying it's a miracle that van driver only had minor injuries. When I first looked at it I was sure whoever was in there had to be dead. There was hardly anything left of it."</p><p>"Yeah, I thought the same. Vehicle accidents are weird, though. You can show up to one that looks like hardly anything has happened, yet you'll find the people in a real mess. Other times, like today, someone will escape unhurt when the odds say they have no right to. Take the good outcomes when they come."</p><p>"Makes the paperwork easier," Upton said, looking at her almost finished report. "Are you going to bother doing yours, or no?"</p><p>"What are you, my partner or my mom?" he asked with irritation in his voice that seemed more than a little unwarranted to her.</p><p>"The quicker we get done here, the quicker we can punch out."</p><p>"You can punch out whenever you want. I'm not stopping you."</p><p>Upton raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That's not how me and my previous partner worked. We were in a shift together from beginning to end."</p><p>"Well, I'm not your previous partner. Like I said, you can punch out whenever you want."</p><p>God, this guy can be a real asshole, Upton thought. Feeling her blood pressure rising, she decided to take him up on his offer. She quickly finished her report and stood up to leave.</p><p>"Okay then, I'm heading home," she said on the way to the door.</p><p>"Or you can wait and we can go for a drink," he said without looking up.</p><p>Upton had to smile. There was arrogance in the question, but she kind of liked that. Nonetheless, there was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction of accepting the offer.</p><p>"I'll take a pass on that. I'll see you in the morning," she said before walking out of the door, leaving him to think about the rejection overnight. The only problem she had was that by the time she got to the locker room, she kind of wished she had said yes.</p><hr/><p>"Hello?" Sylvie Brett called out when she walked into the apartment.</p><p>"Hey, I'm in here," Hailey replied from the kitchen. Having arrived home half an hour earlier to find the place empty, she had taken a shower before making a start on some chicken chilli fajitas for their dinner. Their established routine was whoever got back first made dinner, and the other cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes afterwards.</p><p>"Is that chilli I can smell?" Sylvie asked as she walked into the kitchen.</p><p>"It sure is. We're having chilli chicken fajitas." Turning away from the stove, Hailey looked at her friend. Usually upbeat, Sylvie looked tired at the moment. "How was your day?"</p><p>Sylvie leant against one of the counter tops and sighed. "Long. We got called out to a bunch of drunks fighting in a bar. There was another car called out too. Anyway, I decided to arrest one of the guys who was getting too rowdy and mouthing off. I was trying to cuff him when he broke away from me and punched one of the guys from the other car in the face, breaking his nose. Burgess busted my ass real hard for it, and then there was all the paperwork to do afterwards. You know how I struggle with that side of things. I made the mistake of telling Burgess that. She watched me write out an entire report, read it, then tore it up in front of me. She made me start the whole thing over."</p><p>"Wow," Hailey, drawing the word out for emphasis. "I thought she looked quite nice when I saw her in the briefing room."</p><p>"I mean, at times she was nice. While we were patrolling we were chatting away friendly enough. I guess it's her job as a training officer to be hard on me. It's just tough sometimes to get rode so hard, you know?"</p><p>"Yeah. I came home plenty of times feeling like that during my rookie year. You were around for some of them. Why don't you get that bottle of red wine open and pour us a glass?"</p><p>"Now that's an excellent idea," Sylvie said, going over to their little wine rack. "So, what about your day? I can't believe Jay turned out to be a cop, and then ended up as your partner. That's unreal."</p><p>"Oh pickles, as I think you put it."</p><p>Sylvie laughed, obviously enjoying having a chance to do so after a stressful day. "Definitely oh pickles. I'm not sure anything has ever been more oh pickles than that. What did he say when you met up with him after the briefing?"</p><p>"Nurses, huh?" Hailey said, impersonating him.</p><p>Sylvie laughed while pouring a glass of wine for each of them. "Well, it could have been worse. How did the rest of the shift go? Was he a prick to you?"</p><p>"For the most part, no, not really. But there's an arrogance about him that comes through from time to time. Like, things got a bit snippy between us at the end of the shift, then when I went to leave the room he out of nowhere asked me to go for a drink with him. I think he thought I was guaranteed to say yes."</p><p>"So you said no," Sylvie guessed.</p><p>Preparing their fajitas, Hailey looked at her friend and smiled broadly. "Of course I said no. The only problem is part of me wishes I had said yes."</p><p>Now it was Sylvie's turn to smile. "Oh, really? That's interesting."</p><p>"Yeah. He's seriously hot, and so far as I remember it, the sex was too."</p><p>"Get yourself some more then. Sounds like he's up for it."</p><p>"It's not that simple though, is it? Dating my partner doesn't seem like a good idea, especially right off the bat."</p><p>Sylvie giggled. "Who said anything about dating?"</p><p>"Good point," Hailey said with a grin. "It's something I'm going to have to think about in case he asks me for a drink or something again."</p><p>"It's alright for some. I saw Adam walk out of the briefing room ahead of me this morning. Pretty safe to say I won't be getting a call from him now."</p><p>Hailey finished plating up their food and handed Sylvie's plate to her. "Why not?"</p><p>"Thanks. Because I lied to him about being a nurse. Now it turns out we both work at the 21st."</p><p>They walked through to the living room and sat down on the couch to eat.</p><p>"I don't see why that's such a big deal. It's not like you ran over his dog or something. If he was interested before, I'm sure he's still interested now. Why don't you call him?"</p><p>"Mmm, that's amazing," Sylvie said after her first bite of her fajita. "Firstly, I don't have his number, I gave him mine. And secondly, what am I supposed to say? 'Hi, it's Sylvie. Thanks for the other night. Sorry I lied to you about being a nurse.' I'm sure that would be well received."</p><p>"I think you're over estimating the importance of telling him you're a nurse when you're actually a cop. I doubt he would care all that much."</p><p>"You think so?" Sylvie asked doubtfully.</p><p>"Definitely. He's a man, and you're a sexy blonde. But if you haven't got his number it doesn't really matter. He has your number, so if he wants to take you out, he'll use it."</p><hr/><p>An hour later, after dinner, a couple of glasses of wine, and an episode of the hospital-based TV show they were currently working their way through, Sylvie took the empty plates through to the kitchen. It was her job to clean up since Hailey had made the food.</p><p>After getting the hot water running to fill the sink and adding washing up liquid, she loaded up the music app on her phone, hit shuffle, turned up the volume and put the phone down on a work surface nearby. With that done, she picked up the pair of purple rubber gloves that had been draped over the faucet sprayer and worked her hands into them.</p><p>Shortly, all of the dirty crockery and cutlery were in the sink. Barely had she began to wash them when her music stopped playing, being replaced with her ringtone and the sound of the phone vibrating on the counter.</p><p>"Really?" Sylvie asked in exasperation, wondering how people always managed to time things like that.</p><p>Moving over to look at her phone, she saw a cell phone number that she didn't recognise on the screen. Her decision on whether to answer could have gone either way, but she came down on the side of answering it.</p><p>"This had better not be someone calling to ask if I've been involved in an accident that wasn't my fault," she grumbled as she pulled the gloves back off. She answered the call.</p><p>"Hello?"</p><p>A man's voice. "Hi. I'm trying to reach a nurse Sylvie Brett?"</p><p>Sylvie quickly closed the kitchen door for a bit of privacy, although Hailey was busy typing away to someone on her own phone anyway.</p><p>"Adam! I didn't think you'd call once you found out I wasn't honest with you."</p><p>She heard a laugh on the other end of the phone. "Don't worry about it. Who wants to announce that they're a cop the moment they meet someone? What matters is I had a great time talking with you all night. I'd like to do it again, over dinner."</p><p>"Oh, well, I had a nice time too. I'd like another nice time. So, uh, yes, dinner."</p><p>"Okay, great. I'll arrange something and let you know. Have a good night, Sylvie."</p><p>"You too," she said. Ending the call, she felt like a complete idiot after making such a mess of her words. But what mattered was she now had a date lined up.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Let's see what today brings," Upton said just before she and Brett entered the 21st district police station for their shift.</p><p>"I'm going to guess Burgess busting my ass will feature fairly prominently," Brett said.</p><p>"That's unusually pessimistic for you, Sylvie."</p><p>"Not pessimistic, realistic. I really could have done without starting over with a new training officer halfway through my rookie year."</p><p>"Yeah, that does suck," Upton said sympathetically as the walked through the station's entrance area. She noticed that the dragon behind the front desk was too busy to try and turn them to stone with one of her glares.</p><p>"I'll have to get my head down and get on with it. Hopefully I might hear more about my date with Adam today, so at least there's that."</p><p>"Meanwhile I'll have Halstead being arrogant towards me, I assume."</p><p>"Yet you said you wished you had said yes to going for a drink with him. Maybe you should give him a break and see what happens?"</p><p>"Hmmm. Maybe," Upton said as they entered the women's locker room. "I think I'll take his lead on how today's going to go. If he wants to get along, great. If he wants to be an ass, I'll be an ass too."</p><p>"Hailey, you're too headstrong for your own good sometimes, you know that?"</p><p>Upton grinned. "So my housemate keeps telling me."</p><p>A few minutes later they walked into the briefing room, this time with plenty of time to spare before Sergeant Voight showed up. They found people standing around in small groups talking, mainly in their working partnerships. Halstead and Ruzek were over on the right side of the room.</p><p>"At the 21st we sit for briefing with our partners. Voight's rule." The woman's voice made Upton and Brett turn around to see who had spoken to them. It was Burgess. "Brett, me and you at the front, at the rookie table."</p><p>"Yes, ma'am," Brett said. Although they were the same rank, she knew to show proper respect to her training officer. It made life so much easier.</p><p>"See you later," Sylvie said, heading off and leaving Hailey to her own devices.</p><p>It was time for her to approach Halstead. She wondered what kind of greeting she might get, or what kind she might give to him. She then wondered why she was dwelling on her every move around him. To hell with it, she decided. She was going to be herself, and he could either like it or stick it.</p><p>Noticing her approaching, Ruzek said his goodbyes to his buddy and nodded to Upton as they walked by each other.</p><p>"Morning. Are you in a better mood today?" was Halstead's opener when she walked up to him.</p><p>"Me?" she asked, widening her eyes. "I wasn't in a bad mood last night. It was you giving me attitude."</p><p>Halstead laughed. "That's how you see it? Really? Working with you is going to be fun."</p><p>"What do you mean by that?" she demanded, making sure to keep her voice low and her tone conversational. An audience of colleagues was the last thing she wanted.</p><p>"Your first shift at the 21st, barely out of your rookie year, and you sit there and say 'Are you doing your report or no?' like you're my training officer or something. And you think I need to work on my attitude. That's quite remarkable arrogance."</p><p>Well, damn, that's me put in my place, Upton thought. The rebuke almost stung her physically. She had gone home and told Sylvie about Halstead being arrogant to her, while he was apparently thinking the exact same thing about her. They couldn't have been further away from the same wavelength, which wasn't a good thing between partners. Out there on duty, they had to trust each other with their lives. Maybe it was time she reigned herself in a bit, she thought. That had been Sylvie's suggestion, too.</p><p>Feeling chastened, she sat down without saying anything more. It wasn't long before Voight showed up and got the briefing underway. Upton did her best to listen without dwelling on her currently problematic relationship with her partner. There wasn't actually much of interest in the briefing apart from their assignment, which was to patrol duty, again. They were going to be spending most of the day in a squad car, so some attempt to create a better atmosphere between them was definitely in order.</p><p>"You can drive today, on one condition," Upton said to Halstead when they left the briefing room.</p><p>"I'm listening."</p><p>"You get the key from the battleaxe on the front desk."</p><p>Halstead laughed at her choice of word. "Platt's okay, really. She just got to get used to you. She treats newbies like they're trespassing in her station."</p><p>"In her station?" Upton asked with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>"Do you want to tell her it's not?" he replied pointedly.</p><p>Hell no, Upton thought.</p><p>As arranged, Halstead approached the front desk this time when their turn came. He was given a less hostile response than Upton had been the day before, and received the key for car 8 Alpha.</p><p>"See, that wasn't so painful," he said to Upton as they walked out of the station's front entrance.</p><p>"For you it wasn't. That's why I had you go up to her. Let's see what today brings, then. At least there hasn't been any rioting for a while."</p><p>Halstead cringed. "You just had to say that, didn't you? Now we'll definitely get some."</p><p>Upton laughed. "Sure we will. They were just waiting for a cue from me. It was me who got them to torch the 16th, too."</p><p>He didn't seem to find her comment funny, and nothing more was said until they were in their squad car for the day.</p><p>"Adam asked Sylvie to dinner, I hear," Halstead said as he drove out onto the street.</p><p>"Yeah, he did. I'm happy for her, so long as he doesn't mess her around. Sylvie's got a good heart. You won't meet a nicer person. But she can be a bit naive. He'll hear it from me if he doesn't treat her right."</p><p>"You're on the attack again," he noted.</p><p>"Sorry," she said with a sigh. "It's just that I don't have many friends, or much contact with my family. Sylvie is the closest person in the world to me, which probably sounds pathetic to you since we've only known each other for six months. But we mean a lot to each other."</p><p>"I don't think that's pathetic at all. A close friendship like that is something I wish I had, to be totally honest with you."</p><p>Upton looked at him. "I thought you and Adam were close?"</p><p>"I mean, we are good friends. But as close as you describe yourself with Sylvie? No. I can tell you he's a good man, though. He's not going to treat her badly."</p><p>"That's good to know." She had been about to say that maybe the four of them could go for drinks again at some point, thinking that it might help to dispel the awkwardness between them, but a dispatcher had other ideas, coming through with their first call of the day. They were requested to attend a collision between a vehicle and a cyclist.</p><p>"8 Alpha responding," Upton said into her radio as Halstead put his foot down and fired up their lights and siren.</p><p>"This is either going to be someone injured, or people fighting," he offered.</p><p>"I'm going to say fighting if we're making bets," Upton said. "With cyclists it's often them riding stupidly then reacting angrily when they get bumped into by someone."</p><p>"Agreed. If you ask me, bikes are a menace. They shouldn't be allowed on the road."</p><p>"There would certainly be a lot less accidents if they weren't," Upton had to agree.</p><p>The address they had been given was on a main road through a residential area. They had to drive up the empty left side of the street to get there, for traffic was backed up on the right side. Nearing the scene, they saw a cement truck parked diagonally across the road, blocking the traffic from passing in either direction. There was no sign of a cyclist or a cycle, but there was a small group of bystanders.</p><p>"Let's see what we've got," Halstead said, bringing the car to a stop in a position to further block off the road.</p><p>Upton bailed out and started walking over towards the bystanders. "What happened here?" she called out. "We were told there was a collision with a cyclist?"</p><p>"Officer, I think that boy is dead," a woman said vaguely, pointing with a shaking hand towards the back of the cement truck.</p><p>"Oh God," Halstead said beside Upton as they both looked. The body of a boy, maybe ten years old, was lying on the road, as was a mangled green bike. It was hard to tell much about the boy because his head had apparently been run over by the truck, killing him instantly. It was a truly horrific sight, and Upton thought she might be sick.</p><p>"I'll call it in," she said to Halstead, buying herself the chance to walk away a few feet and turn away from the horrific scene.</p><p>Beginning with her badge number, she announced that they were on the scene. "A child has been hit by a truck and run over."</p><p>"We have an ambulance three minutes out," the dispatcher said.</p><p>"Tell them not to hurry," Upton said with regret. "The child is dead."</p><p>"Understood," the dispatcher said with regret of her own.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>What a shift, Upton thought as she walked into Molly's Bar. There was a double shot of whiskey with her name on it after the day she'd had. The image of that poor little boy with his head crushed by the cement truck would stay with her for a long time, she knew. A few drinks would at least help for tonight.</p><p>An added bonus was spotting Sylvie sitting at the bar with officer Burgess, who looked remarkably attractive out of uniform, without the tight ponytail. Their partnership was apparently going well. Her own partnership with Halstead had shown signs of improvement, too. That was why she had invited him out for a drink after the shift, and why he had accepted, albeit saying that he needed to go home and take care of something first.</p><p>Hailey headed over to Sylvie and Burgess, who already had drinks and were engaged in conversation.</p><p>"Oh, Hailey! Come join us," Sylvie said happily when she noticed her friend walking over.</p><p>"Hey, guys. How was your shift?" she asked them, taking the seat next to Sylvie, who was now between her and Burgess.</p><p>"Likely better than yours. Heard you were at the scene where the young boy was killed by the cement truck?" Burgess said. "Kim Burgess, by the way," she added, reaching around Sylvie to offer her hand.</p><p>Upton shook hands. "Hailey Upton. And yeah, we were. Comfortably the worst call out of my career. I'll take a double of the best single malt you've got," she told an approaching bartender. "Do you guys want anything?"</p><p>Beer was ordered by Sylvie, and by Burgess, breaking any ice between Hailey and her new acquaintance.</p><p>"What happened? All we heard was the child died," Sylvie said, clearly upset by the news.</p><p>The bartender returned with Upton's drink. She downed half of it straight away, savouring the burn in her throat. She ordered a beer for herself before starting to answer the question.</p><p>"There was an alleyway that came out onto the road where the accident happened. Two kids rode their bikes down the alleyway, and when they got to the end the first one came flying out, straight into the road, right in front of the cement truck. The driver stood no chance of stopping or avoiding him. According to an eyewitness, the front wheel ran over the bike and the kid, then the back wheels did too. I'm sure I don't have to describe the damage that was done to the boy. Safe to say it was horrific."</p><p>"Jesus, Hailey," Sylvie said softly, putting a comforting hand on top of her friend's hand on the bar.</p><p>"The truck driver was in a severe state of shock," Upton continued. "The paramedics had to give him something and take him to the hospital. Jay and I chose to go to the hospital to question him. The alternative was going to tell the family what had happened to their son."</p><p>"Don't blame you for avoiding that one," Burgess said sombrely.</p><p>"Is the driver okay?" Sylvie asked after a sip of beer. "I mean, if he was blameless, he's a victim here too."</p><p>"Yeah, he is," Hailey said with a grimace. "He was sedated at the hospital, just kept repeating that there was nothing he could do. At least he has witnesses and a dashcam to back that up, so we didn't have to arrest him. Overall, a shift I'd like to forget, but probably won't be able to. How about you guys?"</p><p>"Nothing remarkable to be honest," Sylvie reported. "The most exciting it got was arresting someone for shoplifting. Guy got caught leaving a music store with a bunch of CDs in his jacket. Tried to say he forgot to pay for them."</p><p>"Probably makes it harder to remember to pay if you've got them in your jacket," Burgess quipped, and they all chuckled.</p><p>As the conversation continued, Upton finished her whiskey and her first beer of the night. The alcohol helped to take the edge off of the awful day she'd had. In what felt like not much time at all, but was actually almost half an hour, Halstead showed up.</p><p>"Hey. What's everyone drinking?" he said as he walked up to them.</p><p>They all greeted him and gave their beer preferences, which he proceeded to order for them.</p><p>"Shall we move to a table?" Burgess suggested.</p><p>"Good idea," Upton said. Four people trying to talk while sat in a line at the bar would not have been ideal.</p><p>As they all got up to move, Halstead was able to take Upton aside slightly for a bit of privacy.</p><p>"Are you okay?" he asked her quietly.</p><p>"I'm fine. Why?" she asked automatically.</p><p>"Because what we saw today was the most graphic and disturbing thing I've seen on this job, and I have a lot more experience than you. It's okay to say if you're not okay, Hailey. In fact it's the best thing to do."</p><p>For the first time, Upton got a real sense that her partner was a good guy and had her back. He wasn't just saying it for the sake of it, either. There had been feeling in his words, and concern in his eyes.</p><p>"Thanks, Jay, I appreciate it. I will be fine though. A few drinks and some company were what I needed. Come on, let's go sit down."</p><p>And so they did. The four of them sat at the table and drank for a couple of hours, properly getting to know each other and sharing a few laughs. Maybe it was the drink making her tipsy, but Upton felt like she was genuinely enjoying Halstead's company. It felt quite remarkable considering the way they had butted heads during their first shift, only the day before. Outside of work, he seemed like a nice guy. After all, that had been her first impression on the night they had first met, when neither of them had known the other was a cop.</p><p>Overall, it was a very enjoyable night, exactly what she had hoped for and needed. Eventually, it was level-headed Sylvie who called time on proceedings.</p><p>"I think we should probably get a ride home. It's been a long day, and we've got another one coming tomorrow."</p><p>"Where's your place?" Halstead asked.</p><p>Upton gave him an area rather than an address. She knew where he lived of course, not that she would hint at that in front of Burgess. Their homes were in pretty much opposite directions from Molly's.</p><p>"Okay. Kim goes the same way as me, so we'll get an Uber together and you guys can get another. Is that alright?"</p><p>"Sure," Sylvie said, taking out her phone to book their ride as Halstead did the same for himself and Burgess.</p><p>They proceeded outside to wait for their drivers to show up. Only a few minutes later, it was Hailey and Sylvie's car that was the first to arrive.</p><p>"I guess that's goodnight. See you guys tomorrow," Upton said.</p><p>Brett and Burgess started saying their goodbyes, but Upton's eyes met Halstead's and lingered there. She suddenly became aware of feeling drunk, and of swooning a bit. God damn he was hot, and even more so when he smiled at her the way he did in that moment.</p><p>"Goodnight. Tomorrow, no road accidents," he said.</p><p>"I'll hold you to that," Upton replied with a distinctly tipsy giggle.</p><p>Sylvie shepherded Hailey into the Uber, then walked around to get in the other side. The ride home took nearly ten minutes, and by the time they got there Hailey definitely knew she was drunk. As ever, the strongest effects were hitting her after the fun stopped.</p><p>"I'm drunk, Sylvie," she said as she followed her housemate into the apartment.</p><p>"Yes, I'm aware," Sylvie chuckled.</p><p>Hailey walked over to the couch and flopped down on it. "That was a nice evening, wasn't it?"</p><p>"Yeah, it was. I was in two minds when Burgess asked me if I wanted to go for a drink. I actually only went to be polite to my TO. But outside of work she's really nice, isn't she? I think she busts my ass because she knows how to be a good TO, but she doesn't particularly enjoy doing it."</p><p>"Possibly. I like her " Hailey said. "I like Jay, too."</p><p>"Yes, I know," Sylvie said with more amusement. She sat down next to Hailey, and they made themselves comfortable.</p><p>"No, I mean I really like him. He's hot. If you weren't there, I might have ended up going back with him tonight."</p><p>"You're drunk, Hailey. You'll feel differently in the morning when you're sober."</p><p>"That's the thing. I don't think I will."</p><p>"It's the drink talking, Hai."</p><p>"No, it's really not," Upton insisted. "I do like him. Yes, we've clashed at work, but outside of work I want him to take me out on a date. Just me, him, some wine... Hey, do we have wine?"</p><p>Sylvie giggled again. "Yes, we have wine. But you're not having any. Trust me, you'll thank me in the morning."</p><p>"I won't," Hailey said grumpily.</p><hr/><p>"Thank you for not letting me have any wine last night."</p><p>"I told you you'd say that," Sylvie grinned at her friend, who was standing in her bedroom doorway in her underwear. "How's the hangover?"</p><p>"Not bad. I have a bit of a headache, but it'll pass. I'm going to hit the shower. How are you feeling?"</p><p>"I'm good," Sylvie said. Having consumed less alcohol than her housemate, she had escaped a hangover, and was already dressed after her own shower. Before Hailey had shown up in the doorway, she had been doing her makeup. "If you be quick, we might be able to go grab breakfast somewhere before work."</p><p>"That's does sound like a plan," Hailey said eagerly. "Sylv, did I say anything embarrassing last night? I admit I don't think I remember all of it."</p><p>"While we were out, no. But when we got back here you kept telling me how much you like Jay. I told you it was the drink talking."</p><p>"You were wrong, it wasn't the drink talking. I do like him a lot," Hailey said, her tone leaving little room for doubt.</p><p>Sylvie turned away from the mirror she was using and eyed her friend for a moment. "You're serious," she concluded. "So, what are you going to do about it?"</p><p>"I don't know."</p>
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